


Leave

by Evietan



Series: Alien Invasion AU [2]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe, M/M, Minor Character Death, War, heavily implied canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:51:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evietan/pseuds/Evietan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim meets Conner shortly after the beginning of the invasion. Obviously, things are not as they seem, even though Tim has to learn the hard way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leave

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place before Come Back. Can be read without knowledge of it.

It had started normal enough. Transfer students were nothing out of the ordinary. Sure, most people didn't transfer because a giant alien ship had landed basically on top of their hometown and killed nearly all of its inhabitants, but hey - who was Tim to judge? It wasn't like his adoptive father had been appointed general of earth's messily united forces to deal with said alien ship or anything.

 

Conner was the personification of the hot country boy stereotype. He was buff, dorky, nice, a little clueless and only wore plaid shirts and jeans. In short, he was perfect to fall in love with. And Tim fell. Hard.

 

They became fast friends, bonding over video games, annoying teachers, group projects, movies and a shared unhealthy love of doritos. All the while Tim was left marvelling at the other boy's fascinatingly blue eyes, as the glasses he wore did little to disguise the unearthly way they were shining.

 

It should have been his first clue that something was off, but at the time he'd been too busy thinking about leaning forward and pressing their lips together. When he finally did just that, his brain became even less inclined to doubt Conner, because _oh my god, he was kissing back!_

 

From then on, the whole thing basically played out itself. They went on dates, they made out, they had sex and Tim realized he'd never been this happy for an extended period of time before, which was a little weird, seeing as the earth was still being conquered by aliens and it seemed like their troops were losing.

 

Reality struck back hard when they lost communication with Jason. Joining the military immediately after high school just like Dick and Cassandra had plus being Bruce's son had given him a high clearance level, special training and a lot of trust. So he'd been sent on a mission inside enemy territory to gather information about the enemy they still knew basically nothing about. It seemed to have gone well, as Jason had sent information about multiple enemy facilities back to the joined forces. Until suddenly he'd sent the code meaning he'd encountered one of the three leading aliens wearing the 's'-symbol and the contact broke off. The general himself had been sighted elsewhere at the time, but both of his minions were unaccounted for, leaving it a mystery which one of them had taken Jason. Maybe it had even been both of them.

 

Not that it mattered to Tim. Jason had been Tim's brother, and now he was dead. Tim wasn't naïve enough to believe they had left an enemy spy alive, still the uncertainty of missing proof gnawed at him. He spent the first night crying, buried in Conner's arms while the other boy whispered "I'm sorry" over and over again. In hindsight, he should have taken it as the admission of guilt it was, not as consolation for his loss. It should have been his second clue.

 

On the next day, Tim decided to drop high school and join the fight against the aliens instead. Needless to say, Bruce was not happy about it. But he'd expected that and prepared logical reasoning as well as an attitude of finality. He wasn't gonna back down from this. He could always finish school if they managed to defend the earth.

 

He hadn't expected Conner to protest nearly as vehemently as Bruce had. It puzzled him, but he wrote it off as worry and Conner's overall pacifist attitude. After all, he had more reason than anyone else to hate the aliens who basically killed everyone he knew and loved, yet he hadn't joined the military to go on a bloody revenge quest.

 

But once Tim had set his mind on something, worried boyfriends and doting fathers had no chance of stopping him. He volunteered for the military and spent the next month in a base close to Gotham doing the mandatory training even though it was completely unnecessary. Bruce had let him do it and a lot more advanced training ever since he had been adopted. At least his trainers noticed and assigned him immediately to a special ops squad afterward.

 

Upon entering said squad, he received a blue, weaker version of the rock they had found to be the weak spot of the aliens. Bruce had already presented him with one as soon as they had found the weakness for self-defense, so Tim decided to give one to Conner to reduce the chance of coming home from a mission just to find his boyfriend dead at home.

 

Conner's reaction should have given Tim every clue he needed. His boyfriend froze in his place as soon as he pulled out the leaden box and when Tim showed him the piece, holding it up to him, he immediately recognized the stone, his expression unable to decide between fear and betrayal. In fact, he looked ready to spring at any movement until Tim explained it was a weapon so Conner could defend himself against the aliens. Conner had relaxed immediately and thanked Tim with an honest smile.

 

This, Tim had noticed. But every explanation he came up with sounded like a far-fetched conspiracy theory, so he let his trust in Conner win and decided to ignore the incident. He never connected the signs.

 

Right now, he was on his first mission for the special ops, investigating a city close to the front lines to find out how close the aliens had gotten to it and what the chance was this was the next place to be attacked. He knew as the newbie he'd gotten the one the higher-ups had thought to be the least likely for attack (especially since Bruce was the highest higher-up there was), but there was always a risk, so he couldn't let his guard down.

 

The city was eerily quiet. All children had been evacuated by the government and most people packed their stuff and followed them. The only ones left behind were old or sick people, a few brave enough to take care of them and the soldiers stationed there.

 

Of course, with Tim's luck, the quiet had lasted a total of five minutes, then the city had been attacked.

 

He quickly made his way to the troops fighting, but he knew they were horribly outnumbered, most soldiers stationed at the strategically more important points. Maybe he could still help salvage a little more time or help some escape before they were overrun. He just followed the sound of bullets firing and explosions to get to the main battlefield in a park close to the edge of the city.

 

Hiding behind bushes he tried to get an overview of the situation. There had been twenty tanks and a fighter plane stationed here with about fifty soldiers to man them. Five tanks were already smashed completely, probably courtesy of a green alien behind the lines of purple aliens who were shooting the soldiers with laser guns but had to take hits from the machine guns and tank missiles, too. There were about a hundred of them total, with a good seventy still alive, maybe. He could see some dead human soldiers as well. No sign of the plane, but trees were blocking his sight. Tim delayed all of this to his commander, who told him to keep an eye on the situation and not take part in the battle yet.

 

For a second he thought they could maybe even stand a chance. It took the green one obviously some time and effort to smash the tanks, and the laser guns would only be able to do minor damage unless they got lucky and set the fuel on fire.

 

Then the plane crashed into the trees right behind him, a figure emerging completely unscathed, and he knew they were screwed.

 

Tim watched breathlessly as the pilot, obviously injured, tried to escape, not even making it out of the plane before the alien snapped his neck in one swift motion. Regaining his senses a little, he pushed the emergency code that would alert the base to what he had encountered and stop them from contacting him in hopes the alien wouldn't notice him. He also scrambled to get the rock out of its leaden case, but a gloved hand stopped him short and suddenly he was looking at a broad chest with the infamous 's' plastered on it. He moved his gaze upward, expecting to see his impending doom.

 

Instead he saw what a giant idiot he'd been.

 

"Conner?"

 

The other boy didn't answer him, his expression shifting from surprise to guilt to hurt and finally to determination. In a motion so fast it looked like a blur to Tim, he took his radio and smashed it in his hand, the useless pieces falling to the ground sickeningly slow in contrast. Tim dedicated a split-second of his thoughts to the heart attack Bruce was probably having right about now, then Conner finally spoke.

 

"Leave."

 

Not able to cope with the situation just yet - Conner was an alien? Who killed this pilot? But not him? - Tim just stuttered out a very well-phrased and elaborate "What?". He couldn't properly react when Conner put his arms around him like a hug - the action was too familiar, too _safe_ for him to get alerted by it. Then came a sensation that made his stomach churn and suddenly he was sitting on his motor bike, Conner hovering next to him.

 

When he still only stared at Conner dumbfounded, the alien repeated "Leave. Hurry!" And then his brain was finally working again and all he could think of was getting out of there, away from the war, from death and from Conner, who somehow still managed to look like a lost puppy despite hovering in the air and just having killed someone in cold blood.

 

Tim sped out of the city and into the open, reminding himself to get back to the squad base and not to Gotham. It was an hour's drive, which gave him more time to think than he'd like. Conner was an alien. Conner. was. an. alien. Oh god.

 

Suddenly everything made sense. All the little things Tim hadn't noticed before or written off were clear as day in hindsight. He was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. If only he hadn't been so blinded by the affection. Of course someone perfect like Conner didn't just pop up out of nowhere and be interested in Tim of all people. He'd probably just wanted some military secrets or a way to get to Bruce.

 

And Tim fell for it. Fell for the fake persona "Conner" had put up. He'd shared his embarrassing secrets with him and blabbered about totally unimportant stuff while Conner had probably just waited for him to slip up or listened only to eventually get introduced to Bruce. And he even - oh god.

 

Tim brought his bike to a screeching halt, basically jumping off before he doubled over and threw up beside the road. He lost his virginity to an alien who wanted to use him to kill every human on the planet. Even worse, he realized - _he'd slept with Jason's murderer!_

 

That made the next wave of food resurface. He'd even had the gall to apologize. With the last bits of his breakfast came the resolution. The alien would pay for this. For tricking him. For Jason. For that pilot. For all the soldiers and helpless civilians he was probably killing right now. For everyone that had died or suffered because of him. Tim would see to that personally. He had left him alive, but it would be his downfall. If he ever came back, the tides would turn. Tim would only pretend to fall for whatever explanation that alien would come up with and relay all the information to the military. Even if he didn't come back for Tim, he'd pour all of his energy into this war. He'd watch all the aliens get executed for their crimes or die trying.

 

He got back on his bike again, heading off to the base. The plan was already forming in his head. After calling Bruce, he'd immediately report "Conner Kent" as a false identity to one of the stations set up for identifying posing Martians. Then he would ask to get in a better position to fight and actually doing something about the aliens. He needed a higher clearance level for this. This was his crusade now, and he'd dedicate his life to it.

 

He didn't see the alien again until the day air force pilot Hal Jordan literally blew the 'General of Hope' to pieces.


End file.
